Do you want to give something back to this project? I'm interested in redesigning my java.net page. If you're any good at web design, please get in touch and help me give it a facelift.

Survey time! Please take a minute to comment.

This time last year I merged all my blog projects into one codebase, and I moved that codebase to a dev.java.net project. I couldn't be happier: this was a great move. It's backed up, it's easy to check out the workspace on other machines, etc.

Also I automated the process of building/updating the jars: one java app called BlogUpdater combs through the workspace and creates a jar for every java file with a main() method. As more and more projects share small common files this really helped me keep things up-to-date.

Help Me Help You


Now it's that time of year again where I want to step back and look at how I do what I do. What can be improved? Both for me and for you. Any feedback is welcome. Feel free to email me or post it here as a comment.

Specific conversation starters could -- but don't have to -- include:

  • Currently I list every blog article in a list on the left. Is this a good format? There are over 40 things in this list. By this time next year: there may be 50 or 60? Here is a similar repository that follows a very different format. Also Ken's blog is much less cluttered. Thoughts?
  • What subjects would you like to hear about? Writing these things up takes time... if I can cater to what you're interested in it will be a win-win for both of us.
  • In a given project: what do you want to hear about? I don't have a fixed template: so far I've just rambled about whatever I think is interesting. This might be performance, how to render something, architecture, etc.
  • On a bigger, more abstract scale: does anyone have any suggestions for other ways to focus this time & energy? Maybe I could join forces with other bloggers? (Who did you have in mind?) Or I could work on specific open-source java projects my skill set might lend itself to? etc. If a great suggestion comes up: I might just freeze this blog the way it is and pick up that other project.
  • Does it bother anyone that I don't have a solid versioning system? (That is: if you use the ColorPicker project, there is no version number associated with it.)
  • In the articles would you like more code samples? More screenshots? More diagrams?
  • Does anything about my programming style prevent you from integrating my jars into your own projects? Anything in the java code that you'd like to see changed? Don't be shy!

    • I recently sketched out a list of big changes I wanted to make to my blog and its presentation; but then I decided it might be much more useful to just ask you, my readers, what you think first...

    p.s. if you like things just the way they are, and would like to see more of "the same" articles: please say that too. The only way I'll gauge the majority opinion is if you speak up. :)

    Thanks for reading, and thanks for the 9,000+ hits I've received this year. (Give or take a few thousand hits that might just be search engine bots?)

    3 comments:

    1. I would like to see your repository moved to a more stable and fast host like kenai or googlecode, preferably kenai, as netbeans users will have quick and easy access from with in the ide. Don't worry, non-netbeans users can still access the repositories too. One topic I have not seen you cover is a custom JFileChooser with, maybe some custom FileProxy's for different file types or image previews. As for the current layout it is fine for me with all the posts listed on the left, as it makes it easy to search the posts from with in firefox. As for other interesting projects, check out http://www.pushing-pixels.org/ I think that you will find it interesting.

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    2. I only recently discovered your blog, so thanks for writing it to begin with.

      I'd remove the contents section from the sidebar, maybe maintain it as a special page for your blog for people to find things without resorting to search. Also, I think blogspot should let you add a searchbox.

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    3. Hi Jeremy,


      > Currently I list every blog article in a list on the left. Is this a good
      > format?

      Hm. Maybe you could group the list into categories? This would make the pages lighter to the eye.


      > What subjects would you like to hear about?

      I very much like your blog and the direction that it takes - which is a wonderful meandering over computer graphics topics.


      > In a given project: what do you want to hear about?

      Personally, I wonder how all the bits and pieces you blog about fall together? Are you still working on Curly? Is there another big project you are working on?


      > On a bigger, more abstract scale: does anyone have any suggestions for other ways to focus this time & energy?

      Nope. I think blogging is a pretty good pastime. :-)


      > Does it bother anyone that I don't have a solid versioning system?
      > (That is: if you use the ColorPicker project, there is no version number
      > associated with it.)

      That's not a problem for me. Usually, I fork off the things that you write about here anyway. ;-)


      > Does anything about my programming style prevent you from
      > integrating my jars into your own projects?

      I very much like your coding style. No need for change!

      Best,
      Werner

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